“Tell me where the fucking cat is, Dad. Tell me now, or I swear to God—” I curse under my breath as I try to step harder on the gas, but the pedal is already flat on the fucking floor. This old limo doesn’t have anything more to give and it’s barely doing fifty. “Jesus fucking Christ.”
My dad growls, his voice coming through the car’s speakers because yeah, this old thing might not be breaking any speed limits but someone installed Bluetooth. Of course they did. “You talk to your parishioners with that voice, son?”
“Fuck you!” I grunt.
“No, fuck you, Martin. You don’t want anything to do with me, that’s fine, but from what I’m hearing you’re out of your goddamn mind. Some sort of affair with Kitty? That’s going to get you defrocked, if it doesn’t get you a prison cell.”
“We’re both adults.”
“You could have fooled me.”
A horn blares as I swerve out into the center lane, trying to get ahead of a semi that’s somehow going slower than I am. The limo lurches like a fucking hearse, the weird weight distribution catching me off guard as I haul on the wheel to bring it back in.
I give them the finger, but I doubt they see it, not with the tinted windows in the back.
“I don’t care about us, Dad. The only fucking reason I agreed to this whole thing with Kitty is because I was curious about my new stepsister. Because, you know, all us step-siblings gotta stick together with a father like you.”
“Father like me? What’s that supposed to mean? I’ve always taken care of my kids—”
I laugh. Actually belly laugh. “Taken care of us? We’ve had to look after ourselves. Kitty was better off before she ever met you, I know that much.”
“You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”
“What I know is, you were never there for any of us. Six kids and not one of us has a good word to say about you. And when you had another chance, when Kitty needed you, instead of being there for her you sent her to me, and told me not to reveal who I really was.”
“Because I didn’t want her to think she was going to get any special treatment, not because I wanted you to fuck her!”
I seethe at that.
He still speaks to my grandmother, they don’t exactly like each other but they’re allies when it suits them. And as soon as my grandma found out what was going on with Kitty, she called him right up. But he doesn’t get to lecture me. Not about this.
“Pot kettle, dad. And too little too late. And a whole load of other cliches I can’t think of right now. I’m getting my shit straight for me this time. I’m doing what makes me happy. I loved mom, and I thought going into the church was the right thing because it was what she wanted. But you know what? What she really wanted was for me to be happy.” I wipe a hand across my face, surprised to see it come away wet. I haven’t cried about mom in years. “I’m happy right now. With Kitty. If I didn’t fuck it up forever.”
“Martin, you’ve got to think this through. Are you really going to give up what you’ve made of yourself?”
“Not your fucking problem. I get to make my own decisions. Just tell me where Baby is. You better hope she’s still okay, too, because if anything has happened to that cat I’ll make sure the same happens to you. I mean it.”
He huffs. I can almost see the classic Hoover eye roll from here, disappointment mixed with a healthy dose of holier-than-thou.
“That cat is living the fucking high life, Martin. Probably eating better than I am right now. I left her with Glenda.”
For a moment, I frown. The name rings a bell but I can’t place it. Then I remember. “The old neighbor from Collingswood? She’s still alive?”
“Yeah. Glenda. The fucking cat whisperer.”
I lean forward and put the closest intersection I remember in that neighborhood into the nav. “You told Kitty you took Baby to the shelter. Now you’re telling me you took her to Glenda? Jesus. That’s fucked up.”
“Yeah, that’s what I keep telling you. I’m not the monster you keep making me out to be.”
“You’re a fucking jerk, dad. Kitty thought her cat might be dead, or with someone that would hurt her.”
“I wanted to teach her a lesson.”
I growl, shaking my head, not sure whether to be pleased that my job just got a whole lot easier or horrified that I share the same DNA with him. “Your lessons suck,” I tell him, then end the call.
Time to try to save my relationship.
